


Butterfly Effect

by estriel



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Angst, Audio Format: MP3, Boys In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Podfic, Podfic Available, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 16:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20011507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estriel/pseuds/estriel
Summary: A small kiss changes the course of Javi's life.





	Butterfly Effect

**Author's Note:**

> You can read, or you can listen. :) 
> 
> Here is a **podfic** of this story: 
> 
> **Length:** 06:18
> 
>  **Download:** [mp3](http://www.mediafire.com/file/8dgk1623twb6aot/Butterfly-Effect.mp3/file)
> 
> This is my first attempt at a podfic (clearly this fandom needs them!), so please bear with me. I am not a native English speaker, so I apologize in advance if there are any hiccups.

It had seemed insignificant. Just a brush of lips, a butterfly landing. The kiss was over before it ever truly began. And yet here Javi is, two months later, the texture and taste of Yuzu’s mouth keeping him awake at night.

Javi feels like a fool. It had been nothing – simply emotions running high and spilling over for a moment during his last night in Toronto. It had been nothing – and everything.

He thought he would settle after winning his seventh European gold. Find a little peace, carve out something good for himself and Marina. Instead, he has never felt more unsettled, or more adrift.

Javi is not even surprised that everything seems to revolve around Yuzu. It is not a new thing; Javi’s life had been centered around him the entire seven years they trained together. It is almost like Yuzu is the sun, a blazing star, with Javi drawn inexorably into his orbit. He cannot escape.

Still, Javi tries. Everybody tells him how cute they look together, him and Marina. _What a wonderful couple, what a lucky guy_. Javi goes through the motions – a dinner date here, a beach getaway there, a couple-selfie snapped for Instagram. _We’re so happy you are happy, Javi!_

Javi wonders if he could have been happy. Had Yuzu not been bold and brave as always, had he not reached out to brush those slender fingers down Javi’s cheek, had he not leaned in for that kiss that, in truth, had been brewing for years… Maybe Javi could have been content? Settling for second best was, after all, the story of his life, what with Yuzu always taking the gold.

But as he kisses Marina, as he makes love to her, he knows it would never have been _right_ , even if Yuzu had not gone and stolen the last piece of Javi’s heart with that kiss.

 _We aren’t growing old together_ , he thinks, even as his mother lovingly asks him when he will propose and make Marina his for good. In fact, he has never even imagined that – Marina and him, married, raising a family, laughing about grey hair together.

When he thinks about the future, Javi sees skating – teaching, coaching, shows, collaborations... All that, and – almost synonymous in his mind with skating – he sees Yuzu.

Yuzu, laughing brilliantly and waving like a madman at the end of a show.

Yuzu, all dignified and proud as they hang a third Olympic gold around his neck.

Yuzu, finally finding time to join Javi’s _Revolution on Ice_ once he retires.

Yuzu with crow’s feet around his eyes.

Yuzu, refusing to try Javi’s morning coffee even though he regularly comments on how good it smells.

Yuzu, frustrated and indignant in Javi’s arms when the triple Axel finally abandons him at some ridiculously advanced age.

Breaking up with Marina feels as inevitable as it is painful. _Are you sure?_ she asks him, eyes swimming with tears. Javi doesn’t have the heart to tell her that he hasn’t felt this sure of anything since his decision to grit his teeth and gear up for his third Olympic cycle after Sochi.

Meeting Yuzu again at _Fantasy on Ice_ is a tremulous affair. Javi’s heart is in his throat when he wraps Yuzu in a hug, and all the fears of the previous weeks surface again: Has he taken too long? Has Yuzu changed his mind, moved on, found somebody else?

But then Yuzu smiles, eyes bright and gentle, and Javi feels like he can breathe again.

“How are you?” Yuzu asks, holding onto Javi’s arms.

“Good now,” Javi tells him and lets the smile he can feel growing deep inside his heart blossom on his face.

“And Marina? How is she?” Yuzu continues, eyes turning wistful.

Javi simply shakes his head, and reaches for Yuzu’s hands, tangling their fingers.

Then he leans in – a small, insignificant tipping forward that Javi knows will change the course of his life.

Yuzu’s lips fall open under his – a gasp, a moan, an invitation – and then they are plummeting, bold, brave, and reckless, fingers threading into hair, bodies snapping together in a way that feels both familiar and enticingly new at the same time.

When they pull apart – with Yuzu breathless, smiling, and blindingly beautiful – Javi knows that this is it: his golden prize, an anchor finally finding purchase after seven years of drifting, a lost satellite discovering its center of gravity.

This is it – the beginning of their ever after.

**Author's Note:**

> What did you think? Drop me a comment, I love feedback! <3


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